Upgraded to Mint 8 tonight. With the CD install, no Mint 7 to 8 upgrade, it wants to install them side-by-side. Odd. Blew away the Mint 7 installation with Mint 8, it's running great!
Linux Mint 7
- Thread starter ToyotaNSaturn
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x2 on setting up Mint 8 64bit tonight... blew away my Mint 7 and reinstalled 8. Running perfect so far, just need to reinstall all my apps! 
If I could make programs for linux, I'd make an addition to the apt package management system that would create a profile of your programs so that upon re-installation you could load the profile and automatically re-install everything you had before.
www.ninite.com offers that for Windows. Select the programs you want, download the custom EXE (save it for future use) and let it do it's thing.
Originally Posted By: greenaccord02
If I could make programs for linux, I'd make an addition to the apt package management system that would create a profile of your programs so that upon re-installation you could load the profile and automatically re-install everything you had before.
There are several available utilities that do that. In fact, with Ubuntu, using "remastersys", you can actually create your *own* live CD with programs that you select. I believe that either remastersys, or something akin to it, is installed by default in an Ubuntu system.
EDIT: System -> Administration -> USB Startup Disk Creator on a 9.10 (Gnome, I don't know if it's there in KDE) system.
If I could make programs for linux, I'd make an addition to the apt package management system that would create a profile of your programs so that upon re-installation you could load the profile and automatically re-install everything you had before.
There are several available utilities that do that. In fact, with Ubuntu, using "remastersys", you can actually create your *own* live CD with programs that you select. I believe that either remastersys, or something akin to it, is installed by default in an Ubuntu system.
EDIT: System -> Administration -> USB Startup Disk Creator on a 9.10 (Gnome, I don't know if it's there in KDE) system.
Is that what that does? Sweet! Thanks!
uc,
Respectfully, you are oversimplifying sudo and exaggerating the dangers. It is a useful security tool whose advantages far outweigh minor disadvantages.
Sudo doesn't give "admin rights" to a user with the use of his password unless you configure it as such; you can configure to require the root passwd if desired.
It doesn't leave the user with heightened privs. It returns the user to the shell that called sudo.
Sudo allows granulated control, by allowing SPECIFIED users to run CERTAIN COMMANDS as root, or as another user. It only grants full admin access IF IT IS CONFIGURED THAT WAY.
If you want to allow one (or group of users) ability to shut down the machine, that can be delegated using sudo. It can't with su.
Allows locking of the root account preventing passwd attacks, since all unix machines have a root account. Administration can be delegated to users whose id's are "less known" than root. Anyone care to guess what is my work admin account?
Eliminates a shared root password and allows auditing of "who ran what" and "who tried to run what"
It is a powerful toolkit which is in use all over (direct root login where I work is not allowed) Unfortunately, it can be "preconfigured" by linux distros to appear to be a disadvantage, when in fact it is great advantage. I believe that is the angle that tainted your opinion of it.
Give the man page on /etc/sudoers a look....
Quote:
"sudo" as a pre-installed default is regarded as a huge mistake in (a large part of) the Debian world. sudo exists to give administrative privileges to a user using only the user's password:
Imagine a hacker gaining control of your system as you, the user.
If sudo is present on your system, that hacker has got you by the you-know-whats. sudo is definitely there in the Debian repositories, but not installed by default. Rather, you are expected to "su" to the SuperUser, or "root" (which has an entirely different password), conduct your administrative affairs, then exit the root console and get back to your desktop usage.
Respectfully, you are oversimplifying sudo and exaggerating the dangers. It is a useful security tool whose advantages far outweigh minor disadvantages.
Sudo doesn't give "admin rights" to a user with the use of his password unless you configure it as such; you can configure to require the root passwd if desired.
It doesn't leave the user with heightened privs. It returns the user to the shell that called sudo.
Sudo allows granulated control, by allowing SPECIFIED users to run CERTAIN COMMANDS as root, or as another user. It only grants full admin access IF IT IS CONFIGURED THAT WAY.
If you want to allow one (or group of users) ability to shut down the machine, that can be delegated using sudo. It can't with su.
Allows locking of the root account preventing passwd attacks, since all unix machines have a root account. Administration can be delegated to users whose id's are "less known" than root. Anyone care to guess what is my work admin account?
Eliminates a shared root password and allows auditing of "who ran what" and "who tried to run what"
It is a powerful toolkit which is in use all over (direct root login where I work is not allowed) Unfortunately, it can be "preconfigured" by linux distros to appear to be a disadvantage, when in fact it is great advantage. I believe that is the angle that tainted your opinion of it.
Give the man page on /etc/sudoers a look....
Quote:
"sudo" as a pre-installed default is regarded as a huge mistake in (a large part of) the Debian world. sudo exists to give administrative privileges to a user using only the user's password:
Imagine a hacker gaining control of your system as you, the user.
If sudo is present on your system, that hacker has got you by the you-know-whats. sudo is definitely there in the Debian repositories, but not installed by default. Rather, you are expected to "su" to the SuperUser, or "root" (which has an entirely different password), conduct your administrative affairs, then exit the root console and get back to your desktop usage.
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: simple_gifts
uc,
Respectfully, you are oversimplifying sudo and exaggerating the dangers.
You are correct: That is exactly what I did. Let me try to lend some balance to my description by saying that I use sudo in both Debian and Ubuntu systems I admin for friends, family, neighbours and the like.
I guess I was trying to point out how Ubuntu leans more toward ease for the non-technical user than security for the seasoned administrator.
uc,
Respectfully, you are oversimplifying sudo and exaggerating the dangers.
You are correct: That is exactly what I did. Let me try to lend some balance to my description by saying that I use sudo in both Debian and Ubuntu systems I admin for friends, family, neighbours and the like.
I guess I was trying to point out how Ubuntu leans more toward ease for the non-technical user than security for the seasoned administrator.
hey TNS,
Thanks for the review. Since I'm snowed/iced inside this weekend and I can't go house shoppin. I decided I'm going to install Mint on my old desktop as a dual boot with XP, but will use Mint most of the time. I'm really getting tired of windows viruses. I had two in the past two years.
Thanks for the review. Since I'm snowed/iced inside this weekend and I can't go house shoppin. I decided I'm going to install Mint on my old desktop as a dual boot with XP, but will use Mint most of the time. I'm really getting tired of windows viruses. I had two in the past two years.
Let us know how it goes for you! Built-in flash support makes it super easy to use right out of the box.
Originally Posted By: ToyotaNSaturn
Built-in flash support makes it super easy to use right out of the box.
Convenient, but in more than a few countries (Mainly the U.S.), illegal. [insert frowny face emoticon here]
Mint is just mainly one person (Clement Lefebvre) and a relatively small group of volunteer developers; in France as I recall, dressing up a standard Ubuntu install. When a distribution has something to lose, they can't very well redistribute patent-encumbered software. Microsoft and Apple presumably pay a (nominal, I'm sure) licensing fee to be able to include things like mp3/ AAC playback, DVD decoding, Java, etc.
EDIT: Nope, he's in Ireland: http://www.linuxmint.com/about.php
ANOTHER EDIT: I found this on a forum:
Quote:
Let's examine which nation's laws make Mint legal and which don't. I'm no expert but, I happen to know for a fact that Mint, with its included and unlicensed codecs breaks the laws of the following nations:
United States
United Kingdom
European Union
Australia
South Africa
Japan
These are nations that have in effect software patent restrictions. Maybe we just don't count any more, but I'm pretty certain that Canada's supposed to be on that list as well.
Built-in flash support makes it super easy to use right out of the box.
Convenient, but in more than a few countries (Mainly the U.S.), illegal. [insert frowny face emoticon here]
Mint is just mainly one person (Clement Lefebvre) and a relatively small group of volunteer developers; in France as I recall, dressing up a standard Ubuntu install. When a distribution has something to lose, they can't very well redistribute patent-encumbered software. Microsoft and Apple presumably pay a (nominal, I'm sure) licensing fee to be able to include things like mp3/ AAC playback, DVD decoding, Java, etc.
EDIT: Nope, he's in Ireland: http://www.linuxmint.com/about.php
ANOTHER EDIT: I found this on a forum:
Quote:
Let's examine which nation's laws make Mint legal and which don't. I'm no expert but, I happen to know for a fact that Mint, with its included and unlicensed codecs breaks the laws of the following nations:
United States
United Kingdom
European Union
Australia
South Africa
Japan
These are nations that have in effect software patent restrictions. Maybe we just don't count any more, but I'm pretty certain that Canada's supposed to be on that list as well.
so far linux mint 8 is working great. All my peripherals work and even my belkin wireless G USB worked right away (unlike last year with ubuntu where I had to find/install a driver for it). This is my 2nd attempt at a linux distro. I'm gonna stick with it and use virtualbox if I need to use XP.
cool! vBox's seamless mode is neat. It mimics features from other virtualization products and works well!
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